Texting, then assulting ex cop, during movie equals death.

[McLaren]

Why not? I've seen stories on my local stations where people get praised for it.

Getting praised for it has absolutely nothing to do with it. Self-defense is not an exploitable right in this country & you should learn it quick if you think you can do whatever you want to someone who may attack you.

 

[Grayfox]

News article I read, it was during the trailers when he got shot.

 

[Bopop4]

If he didn't die then I'd say serves him right, but the dying part is a bit much.

 

[Grayfox]

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/2014/01/14/13/55/ex-cop-accused-of-shooting-moviegoer-for-texting

This article says nothing about the victim throwing anything at the ex cop

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

It kinda does matter what it's with. If someone assaults you with a wilted flower, that's hardly much of a case for deadly force, is it? I mean, it's annoying being poked with a flower and all, but you're hardly in any physical danger.
Ditto bag of popcorn. It's annoying and very, very rude for someone to throw one at you, but you're in absolutely no physical danger unless you have a spectacular allergy to corn. The appropriate response to someone throwing a bag of popcorn is to walk away. If you're really pissed off and feel like hurting the guy I'd imagine you'd get away with punching the guy in the face.
Pulling a gun and shooting the guy in the chest is just a massive, massive over-reaction, and anyone who thinks that pulling a gun in that situation is an appropriate response shouldn't be carrying.

You don't get it. If you assault someone, you assault someone. Doesn't even matter if its a flower. Most everything in the world has the potential to do bodily harm. If you don't think a bag of popcorn can do damage then again, you are wrong. The corner on most bags of popcorn could easily put a persons eye out. The eye is very soft tissue and the cornea is very sensitive. Eye trauma number one cause of blindness in young adults.

Spitting on someone is considered assault. If someone spits on me shall I pull a .357 and make their day?

What if someone had HIV or AIDS and spits in your eye? All it takes is a little blood in their mouth to transfer the life ending disease to you. Again, assault is assault and is NEVER tolerated no matter how "safe" you think the assault is.

Humans are unpredictable. It might sound like an innocent flower or bag but you NEVER know what the person could do after that. If people were predictable we would know days in advance before school shootings, or president shootings. You don't know what people will do. Assaulting someone is assaulting someone period. Go assault any police officer or the president of the US with a flower or bag of random substance and let me know how that goes for you.

 

[Zenith]

This is not 100% relevant to the topic at hand, but I thought it would fit the discussion.

I am all for concealed carry, but I think many people who do carry do so with the wrong mindset.

If you are concealed carrying properly, that is the gun is concealed, then nobody else is aware that you have a gun.

If you get into a fight, that fight now has a gun in it, and nobody entering that fight but you was aware that it was there. This is not fair. If you start losing, you will pull the gun and shoot somebody.

CCW's cannot go around being aggressive and expect to be able to fall back on the "oh well he might've really hurt me" when things go south and a human being is killed. While carrying a gun, the person must be passive. They should not raise their voice, they should not escalate any encounter, they are sorry to impinge on another's day, they don't care that their mother was just called a whore.

This way when things finally do end up going to violence, then it was only the fault of the person who has a new set of holes.

 

[playnthru]

What if someone had HIV or AIDS and spits in your eye? All it takes is a little blood in their mouth to transfer the life ending disease to you. Again, assault is assault and is NEVER tolerated no matter how "safe" you think the assault is.

Humans are unpredictable. It might sound like an innocent flower or bag but you NEVER know what the person could do after that. If people were predictable we would know days in advance before school shootings, or president shootings. You don't know what people will do. Assaulting someone is assaulting someone period. Go assault any police officer or the president of the US with a flower or bag of random substance and let me know how that goes for you.[/quote]


Defending himself???


Last time I checked creepy old man movie goer was not a President. And presidents don't start fights over texts in movie theaters.(apples & oranges ). The comparison is not even in the same league.

Like I said, not a self defense case whatsoever. Read the law.

 

[Northstar]

You don't get it. If you assault someone, you assault someone. Doesn't even matter if its a flower. Most everything in the world has the potential to do bodily harm. If you don't think a bag of popcorn can do damage then again, you are wrong. The corner on most bags of popcorn could easily put a persons eye out. The eye is very soft tissue and the cornea is very sensitive. Eye trauma number one cause of blindness in young adults.


What if someone had HIV or AIDS and spits in your eye? All it takes is a little blood in their mouth to transfer the life ending disease to you. Again, assault is assault and is NEVER tolerated no matter how "safe" you think the assault is.

Humans are unpredictable. It might sound like an innocent flower or bag but you NEVER know what the person could do after that. If people were predictable we would know days in advance before school shootings, or president shootings. You don't know what people will do. Assaulting someone is assaulting someone period. Go assault any police officer or the president of the US with a flower or bag of random substance and let me know how that goes for you.

The question is, do you go right for the nuclear option when someone throws popcorn at you?

I understand that a bag of popcorn can do damage, but a fist in the face is probably more appropriate of a comeback than a bullet in the chest. It also helps eliminate the possibility of having to serve the rest of your life in a jumpsuit.

Using a gun should always be the last resort, not the first as it seemed happened in this case. Granted I haven't followed anything in this case past the original article, but I haven't seen anything to suggest Reeves couldn't have just walked away.

 

[Badasp5.0]

I think it was way over-response to draw a weapon and use it.

I just keep thinking about the phrase proportional response. When I was in the Army our ROE always included when to shot and when not to. We sure as hell didn't start opening fire when local kids would be chucking rocks or what ever when we rolled into town. I don't see any difference if your are a CCW its up to you to come up with a proportional response in which the weapon is your FINAL tool and option.

 

[Imari]

You don't get it. If you assault someone, you assault someone. Doesn't even matter if its a flower. Most everything in the world has the potential to do bodily harm. If you don't think a bag of popcorn can do damage then again, you are wrong. The corner on most bags of popcorn could easily put a persons eye out. The eye is very soft tissue and the cornea is very sensitive. Eye trauma number one cause of blindness in young adults.

Oh, I get it. You're the sort of person that looks for any excuse to pull a firearm on someone.

You said it, most everything in the world has the potential to do bodily harm. Does this mean you go around shooting everyone you see, because they *could* injure or kill you?

You're the most dangerous person in the situation, because you see anything and everything as a threat to be met with deadly force at the first opportunity. I wouldn't want to be in the same time zone as you, let alone the same movie theatre.

 

[Brend]

So there's people who exist that geniune, genuine, believe that throwing popcorn at someone's face merits a face full of lead?

Y'know one time someone hit me with popcorn, I poured my juice over him. Problem solved.

 

[Parker]

You don't get it. If you assault someone, you assault someone. Doesn't even matter if its a flower. Most everything in the world has the potential to do bodily harm. If you don't think a bag of popcorn can do damage then again, you are wrong. The corner on most bags of popcorn could easily put a persons eye out. The eye is very soft tissue and the cornea is very sensitive. Eye trauma number one cause of blindness in young adults.


What if someone had HIV or AIDS and spits in your eye? All it takes is a little blood in their mouth to transfer the life ending disease to you. Again, assault is assault and is NEVER tolerated no matter how "safe" you think the assault is.

Humans are unpredictable. It might sound like an innocent flower or bag but you NEVER know what the person could do after that. If people were predictable we would know days in advance before school shootings, or president shootings. You don't know what people will do. Assaulting someone is assaulting someone period. Go assault any police officer or the president of the US with a flower or bag of random substance and let me know how that goes for you.

It absolutely matters what it is and you'd be crazy to think otherwise. If you shoot someone who throws a bag of popcorn at you and claim self defense in court, you're going to be going to jail for a very long time.

I'm in law enforcement, if someone throws something at me I can't pull my weapon and shoot them. I have to be in fear of my life and I have to be facing lethal force as well. No matter which way you cut it, a bag of popcorn is not lethal force.

 

[a6m5]

This is not 100% relevant to the topic at hand, but I thought it would fit the discussion.

I think I've brought this up before, but you never hear incidents involving CCW permit holder unlawfully shooting someone. I think this is a rare incident, and most people conceal carrying do agree with what you said, and they are responsible people. Personally, this is the first case I've seen where CCW permit holder (likely)unlawfully shooting someone.

 

[McLaren]

You don't get it. If you assault someone, you assault someone. Doesn't even matter if its a flower. Most everything in the world has the potential to do bodily harm. If you don't think a bag of popcorn can do damage then again, you are wrong. The corner on most bags of popcorn could easily put a persons eye out. The eye is very soft tissue and the cornea is very sensitive. Eye trauma number one cause of blindness in young adults.


What if someone had HIV or AIDS and spits in your eye? All it takes is a little blood in their mouth to transfer the life ending disease to you. Again, assault is assault and is NEVER tolerated no matter how "safe" you think the assault is.

Humans are unpredictable. It might sound like an innocent flower or bag but you NEVER know what the person could do after that. If people were predictable we would know days in advance before school shootings, or president shootings. You don't know what people will do. Assaulting someone is assaulting someone period. Go assault any police officer or the president of the US with a flower or bag of random substance and let me know how that goes for you.

Holy hell, are we grasping at the biggest straws or what.

The chances of either of those things happening is unfathomable.

 

[Tornado]

How did we end up arguing about AIDS popcorn in the first place?

 

[Slash]

Getting praised for it has absolutely nothing to do with it. Self-defense is not an exploitable right in this country & you should learn it quick if you think you can do whatever you want to someone who may attack you.

If I go to jail for protecting myself and my rights then this country can go to hell and I'll move somewhere else.

 

[Tornado]

You aren't going to find any other country that has a more positive outlook on shooting people for throwing popcorn at you.

 

[Slash]

Would I pull a gun for having popcorn thrown at me? Absolutely not.

But in the incident I'm at gun point or about to be brutally beaten, you can bet I'll pull it, and yes, I will use it if necessary if all other methods of escape are not possible. As @Badasp5.0 said, there is a time to use it and a time to keep it put away. It's up your judgement to decide when it should or should not come out.

It is my god given right to live, and I'll be damned if anyone stands in my way of that.

 

[Tornado]

And how does throwing a bag of popcorn infringe on that right?



You're arguing a viewpoint no one has said.

 

[Slash]

Throwing anything is assault. How I know the guy isn't throwing the bag of popcorn as a distraction to pull a weapon on me, or something possibly worse?

You don't. People are stupid and unpredictable. It may sound ridiculous and pointless to throw a bag of popcorn when you can just pull a gun out in the first place. But people are stupid and unpredictable and do pointless things. And that's why you need to never let your guard down in situations such as these.

 

[McLaren]

If I go to jail for protecting myself and my rights then this country can go to hell and I'll move somewhere else.

It all depends on the situation & even then, you have to prove you made the right decision if it results in injury/death of the other person. You can't do whatever you want to someone who may swing a punch or spit on you. There is a thing called reasonable force.

 

[Slash]

It all depends on the situation & even then, you have to prove you made the right decision if it results in injury/death of the other person. You can't do whatever you want to someone who may swing a punch or spit on you. There is a thing called reasonable force.

I will agree with you that it depends on the situation entirely.

If someone spit on me, I'd probably get pissed but not retaliate entirely. I've had this happen before.

Someone swings a punch, I will disable them. Entirely different situation than if someone spit on me. They swung first, and I have the right to protect myself and disable them long enough to make an effective escape. If that means pulling a weapon, so be it. I wouldn't shoot, however, unless they continued to come after me. If they were subdued by the presence of the weapon, I'd leave it at that. If they continued to attack, I will of course shoot, and I have that as enough justification to set me free, and free later if taken to court which is unlikely. It happens frequently around these parts in the form of home invasions, and most recently a man who asked an invader to leave refused, the man shot and killed the invader and walked away. According to my local law enforcement and my SWAT uncle, that's how it works.

 

[McLaren]

I will agree with you that it depends on the situation entirely.

If someone spit on me, I'd probably get pissed but not retaliate entirely. I've had this happen before.

Someone swings a punch, I will disable them. Entirely different situation than if someone spit on me. They swung first, and I have the right to protect myself and disable them long enough to make an effective escape. If that means pulling a weapon, so be it.

You do realize (well, no, you don't) that if you pull a gun on someone who takes a couple swings at you can quickly be turned against you? Again, depends on the situation & you'll likely have to have good reason for pulling it.

I wouldn't shoot, however, unless they continued to come after me. If they were subdued by the presence of the weapon, I'd leave it at that. If they continued to attack, I will of course shoot, and I have that as enough justification to set me free, and free later if taken to court which is unlikely.

Have to prove it. What part of this do you not understand? You can't kill someone attacking you & believe you'll get away free. There is a reason they teach people with CHLs to never pull their weapon unless they must absolutely use it.

It happens frequently around these parts in the form of home invasions, and most recently a man who asked an invader to leave refused, the man shot and killed the invader and walked away.
According to my local law enforcement and my SWAT uncle, that's how it works.

I love that everything you say to back up your posts is completely based upon your town & hear-say.

 

[Slash]

You do realize (well, no, you don't) that if you pull a gun on someone who takes a couple swings at you can quickly be turned against you? Again, depends on the situation & you'll likely have to have good reason for pulling it.

I was defending myself from bodily harm. I caused not harm to anyone else. I pulled it in an attempt to relieve myself from injury.

Have to prove it. What part of this do you not understand? You can't kill someone attacking you & believe you'll get away free. There is a reason they teach people with CHLs to never pull their weapon unless they must absolutely use it.

Did you not see the part where I said I wouldn't pull it unless all methods of escape are impossible? I'm pretty that is the EXACT same thing you just said.

 

[Johnnypenso]

If this happened in Canada, I think the discussion would be close to unanimous. It was a gross over reaction and the shooter deserves to be in prison. I do think however, there will be a lot less texting in American theatres for the next couple of weeks anyway...

 

[TheDrummingKING]

This is what I've heard of the story so far (may or may not be 100% accurate, since everything is still ongoing):

-Oulson was texting his babysitter about his 3 year old child (I think it was 3, and don't remember if boy or girl) before the movie had even started, he was texting during the ads that play prior to the movie.
-Reeves gets mad about it
-They argue
-Oulson throws popcorn at Reeves' face
-Reeves shoots Oulson, killing him

Oulson "assaulting" Reeves aside, in what world is it acceptable to shoot someone because they threw popcorn at you? I seriously don't understand how this can even be a debate of who is at fault here. Reeves should be in jail.

 

[McLaren]

I was defending myself from bodily harm. I caused not harm to anyone else. I pulled it in an attempt to relieve myself from injury.

It does not matter if you cause harm to anyone else or not, you have to prove you had a valid reason for going that far too defend yourself & why nothing else worked. Again, depends on the situation, because there have been cases where someone pulled a gun on someone trying to assault them in the middle of a crowd causing a panic. If anyone had gotten hurt as a result, the gun holder could easily be sued for it.

Did you not see the part where I said I wouldn't pull it unless all methods of escape are impossible? I'm pretty that is the EXACT same thing you just said.

Go back to what I was replying to.

"I have that as enough justification to set me free, and free later if taken to court which is unlikely."

Just because someone keeps attacking you & you shoot them will not be enough to set you free in anyway. Get the key word into your head; proof. You must provide evidence that shooting someone was justifiable. They tell people not to use their CHL unless absolutely necessary so that it'll usually be a last resort, which will help their defense in using it. Regardless, if you shoot any one in this country, you will more than likely end up in a court defending yourself. The only positive is that the defense has to do more work at proving you irresponsibly used your weapon than you do proving otherwise, so thankfully, the odds are still slightly in your favor.

 

[Azuremen]

What if someone had HIV or AIDS and spits in your eye? All it takes is a little blood in their mouth to transfer the life ending disease to you. Again, assault is assault and is NEVER tolerated no matter how "safe" you think the assault is.

What if we could all just make up crazy hypothetical scenarios to grasp as straws to make arguments?

Oh wait.

Now that you've played the "what if" card, I don't see much reason for people to waste their time discussing it with you.

 

[TheDrummingKING]

You don't get it. If you assault someone, you assault someone. Doesn't even matter if its a flower. Most everything in the world has the potential to do bodily harm. If you don't think a bag of popcorn can do damage then again, you are wrong. The corner on most bags of popcorn could easily put a persons eye out. The eye is very soft tissue and the cornea is very sensitive. Eye trauma number one cause of blindness in young adults.

Wait, so potential blindness by popcorn is justification to kill someone for you? I ask you this then, how many people have you killed? If popcorn is enough to get you going guns blazin' then surely you must have killed multiple people in your life.

Oh and BTW, I've been hit directly in the eye by a zipper (on a jacket) being whipped at my face, you know what happened? I had fuzzy vision for about 30 seconds and then I was fine. I hardly think you have to worry about some porpcorn blinding you.

 

[Ibonibo]

Wasn't the shooter a ex cop?

Seriously, I would make pass that guy a sanity test.

In a country where McDonalds get sued a second time for hot coffee, he should have made a plaintiff for getting popcorn in his lady parts.

For me there needs always to be the proportionality principle. Killing someone for getting popcorn or a paperbag thrown at you = no self defense but murder...
If you have a legal weapon, the only way to use it is if imminent danger is done to you or your family. Danger for you life.
But Merica. It wouldn't surprise me if a judge would classify popcorn in the yellow cake category.
Then next time, pop corn throwers will be put in Guantanamo Bay 👍
Especially as a ex cop who whould know the consequences of such acting.

And we don't even know if the thrown popcorn part is true. It could be lie to justify his acting.

I think old people and guns is a subject that needs to be discussed more often.
I think it was for New Years Eve. Kids were playing with those little legal explosives. An old **** got annoyed gets his old rifle out, and starts shooting at the kids.
I don't know where that happened, but I read that somewhere.

On the eye trauma : yeah ! And what happen to people eyes who gets punched in it by such a velocity it rips open skin?
99% of the time : a black eye. You would need to put the popcorn piece into your eye and that scratch it a bit to come close to an eye trauma...

This is just a really retarded story as a whole. It makes me sad being a member of the same species.